Malaysian MH370 was mass murder-suicide by the pilot: Tony Abbott

LONDON: Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed that the ill-fated Malaysian MH370 that went missing on March 8, 2014, after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, was downed by a suicidal pilot.

Citing the "highest levels" of the Malaysian government sources, Abbott told Sky News that the authorities thought "from very, very early on" that the MH370 jet was crashed intentionally by its pilot. "My understanding, my very clear understanding, from the very top levels of the Malaysian Government is that from very, very early on where they thought it was a murder-suicide by the pilot," Abbott was quoted as saying. "Let me reiterate - I want to be absolutely crystal clear - it was understood at the highest levels that this was almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot," he added. Abbott, who was Prime Minister at the time of tragedy, spoke in detail about his conversations with Malaysian leaders for the first time in a Sky News documentary titled "MH370: The Untold Story," that was set to be aired on Wednesday.

Najib Razak, prime minister of Malaysia at that time, told online news portal Free Malaysia that they never ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide angle. "It would have been deemed unfair and legally irresponsible since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found and hence, there was no conclusive proof whether the pilot was solely or jointly responsible," Najib was quoted as sayings saying. "I must stress that this possible scenario was never ruled out during the search effort and investigations, where no effort was spared," he added. (IANS)

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